The Most Realistic Ash Betrayal Fic Ever
by Cottonmouth25
Summary: Ash arrives home from losing the Kalos League, and wakes up to find all of his previous companions and rivals gathered in his living room. Are they here to convince Ash to give up his dreams? To tell him that he'll never be a Pokemon Master? To *gasp*… BETRAY him? (Pure crack obviously.)


**The Most Realistic Ash Betrayal Fic Ever**

-.-.-.-.-.

On a quiet morning in Pallet Town, one Ash Ketchum awoke with a huge yawn. It was the first time in a long while he'd spent in his own bed, since up until today, he'd been traveling through Kalos with his latest set of companions. Of course he lost the League, but he'd come closer to winning than any other previous League. He was more sure than ever that next time, he'd come out on top!

But still, there was a small, nagging doubt at the back of his mind.

"Pikapi?" asked Pikachu, tugging at his shirt. The Electric-type seemed to notice that something was off about its Trainer.

"Oh, mornin', Pikachu," Ash greeted sheepishly, and petted Pikachu on the head. "Sorry about spacin' out like that. I just had some weird dreams last night."

Giving another yawn, he rolled out of bed and waited for Pikachu to leap onto his shoulder before leaving his room. It was only a short walk down the stairs and into his mother's living room, but in the short silence that occupied those few moments, Ash withdrew into his troubling thoughts from the night before. The voices he'd heard in his "weird dreams" seemed to echo back to taunt him.

"_You've never won a League in all your travels, Ash. Maybe you should just quit while you're ahead._"

"_Once a loser, always a loser, Ashy-boy!_"

"_How could you be so stupid to hold onto your dreams after all this time?!_"

"_Your Pokemon are wasted on such a terrible Trainer, so I've given them all away to your friends._"

"_I can't believe I used to like you!_"

By the time Ash reached the bottom of the stairs, he was looking down at the floor and trying to push the taunting voices away. He looked up, only to see that it wasn't just his mother that was here to greet him. Everyone he'd ever traveled with and competed against on his many journeys was gathered together, from his closest companions Brock and Misty to his rivals Ritchie and Trip. They all had identical, neutral expressions as they looked at him wordlessly.

Ash stared back at them, wary and confused. The feeling of déjà vu that overtook him was ominous and filled him with foreboding, and he took a cautious step backwards.

"Whoa, guys?" he asked. "Mom, what's this all about?"

"Ash, honey!" his mom walked into the room from the kitchen, her usual cheerful smile present. "I invited all your wonderful friends to come here after you competed in the Kalos League! All of us saw it on TV, you were amazing."

He blinked. The cheeriness of his mother contrasted greatly with the stoicism of all his visitors, putting him off even further. But even then, something didn't seem right, as if something was missing from the picture in front of him.

"Wait, where are Serena and Clemont and Bonnie? Shouldn't they be here, too?" he inquired.

"Um, no, they're still in Kalos," answered Iris, with an exasperated shrug of her shoulders. "You saw them literally yesterday, you little kid."

Duh. Of course now that the purple-haired girl pointed it out, it was obvious. Ash wasn't sure why he'd expected them to be present, but he suspected it, like everything else, had something to do with the discouraging dream he'd had.

"So, does my mom inviting you all over have something to do with the Kalos League?" he asked next.

"Yes, it does," Brock replied, sounding grim. "We watched you go down in the final round. None of us have ever been so frustrated after watching all the hard work with your Greninja be for nothing. So that's why –"

Feeling a sudden flash of panic, Ash interrupted him. "Wait!" he cried. "No matter what you think, I'm still gonna keep on travelin' until I'm a Pokemon Master, see?! Even if you want me to give up, I'll compete in League after League until I finally get good enough to challenge the Elite Four and become Champion! If you wanna stop believin' in me, that's just fine, because you all have your own goals and it'd be selfish to ask you to keep supporting me! I'll become a Pokemon Master all on my own, if I have to!"

"Pika, pi pika Pikachu!" added Pikachu, cheeks sparking aggressively.

Everyone seemed taken aback by Ash's outburst. Brock took another step forward and opened his mouth – only to be interrupted again, this time by the sound of the door opening. There stood Paul, wearing a colorful party hat on top of the characteristic glare and scowl.

"You've got to be joking," he spoke with his usual scorn. "You spend all this effort setting up a surprise party for Ash, and you forget to spring the surprise when he walks downstairs. You're all pathetic."

While Ash and everyone else looked on, stunned into numbness, Paul wordlessly reached for a streamer dangling nearby. He pulled it, and showers of confetti burst out from nowhere with loud popping sounds, along with banners that read "CONGRATULATIONS ASH" in big block letters and decorated with chibi Ashes and Pikachus.

"Surprise party? You're kiddin'!" Ash exclaimed, taken aback.

"Of course! We were all so impressed with your battles in Kalos, we simply had to congratulate you!" Misty chirped.

"We couldn't be prouder to call ourselves your rivals!" shouted Morrison, while all the other self-proclaimed rivals nodded.

Ash and Pikachu exchanged a confused glance. "But… I lost the League again… and earlier Brock said he was frustrated with how our trainin' didn't pay off…"

"Hell yeah we're frustrated!" exploded Barry, tearing into his blonde hair. "That Alan guy totally should've lost to your awesome Greninja-Ash-fusion thing! I call hax! I'm fining him ten million for that!"

"Don't feel down, Ash," May smiled at him. "You might not have won a Pokemon League yet, but that's no reason for you to give up. All that means is that you have to try harder next time!"

"If I gave up when I started losing Contests, I'd never have participated in the Grand Festival!" added Dawn, winking. "So no need to worry! We've got your back, one-hundred-and-ten percent!"

Even Trip, whose attitude was normally reminiscent of Paul's, nodded and gave a lazy smile. "You've got a lot of friends on your side. So don't let them down and let their cheering go to waste, okay?"

"There's no way a Trainer who even beat me at my best couldn't become a Pokemon Master!" Gary encouraged, complete with a thumbs-up. "Even if his heart is bigger than his brain."

Ash, as well as Pikachu, started to tear up from this show of loyalty and friendship. The malicious voices that had haunted him in his previous nightmare faded away and left his mind entirely. There was no way such a reality could ever exist in anything but a dream – he'd battled with, and at times against, all of these friends and rivals, inspiring them in his own way to be better Trainers, better Coordinators, and just better people.

Whether or not he could win a League was irrelevant. Whether or not he could become a Champion wasn't important. Heck, whether or not he could achieve his vision of being a Pokemon Master didn't matter. They'd stick with him until the very end no matter what path he took, because they were his friends.

"You guys…" Ash wiped his eyes with an arm, starting to sob.

"Pika…" agreed Pikachu, and blew its nose in Ash's shirt collar.

"Dry those tears, my dear Ash!" Cilan boomed, extending his hand with a dramatic flourish. "It's celebration time! Professor Oak and all your Pokemon are waiting to join in at the professor's ranch, so let's make like a train and go full steam ahead!"

Barry excitedly leapt to his feet like he'd received a Pin Missile to the butt. "Last one to Professor Oak's ranch is a rotten Exeggcute! _Readysetgo_!"

And he tore past Paul and out the door, the wind kicked up from his passing knocking the hat off of the dour boy's head. His only reaction was an irritated grunt.

Which then turned into a startled shout when Ash, Morrison, and several of the more excitable characters promptly stampeded over him in their rush to catch up to Barry.

-.-.-.-.-.

Far, far above Pallet Town, unbeknownst to any but themselves, three divine Legendary Pokemon gazed down upon the proceedings.

"I told you they'd stick with him!" Dialga scolded his brother. "Ash's friends wouldn't turn their backs on him in a billion years! And I would know!"

"You never know!" argued Palkia. "There's an infinite number of alternate universes beyond this one, so this one _could've_ been one of those universes!"

"**SILENCE,**" commanded Arceus. "**WHILE PALKIA MAKES A GOOD POINT, THE GODS WHO LOOK OVER THOSE WORLDS DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO DO THEIR JOBS, AND CAUSE THE INHABITANTS OF SAID WORLDS TO UNDERGO DRASTIC SHIFTS IN CHARACTER FOR NO DISCERNABLE REASON.**"

"Stupid gods," Dialga remarked.

Palkia huffed, but dropped the issue in favor of a different one. "So, is this universe one of those where Amourshipping becomes canon?"

"**THAT SHALL BE LEFT UP TO THE READERS' IMAGINATIONS, MY SON,**" the Original One decreed.

"What?" he asked.

"**NOTHING.**"

-.-.-.-.-.

**AN:  
****Wrote this in less than an hour because I was inspired and because I wanted to give out my opinion on Ash betrayal fics as a concept. It's not the best written thing in the world, but it's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be stupid and funny. Hopefully I accomplished one of those things.**

**Moral of this story – Ash betrayal fics are inherently dumb because there's no way they could be written without making someone completely OOC.**

**I don't own Pokemon or anything associated with it.**


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